Grace in Small Things 23:365

1. Finding the perfect fabric for curtains and plotting out the design.

2. Red-clay and its strong and earthy personality. This makes me think of:

Red-clay bowls by local old-time potters. Red with a thin white glaze so that the red peeks through, and perfectly sized for a morning breakfast or an evening snack.

Red-clay mud in the swamp.

Then being reminded of a Gillian Welch song, Red Clay Halo:

All the girls all dance with the boys from the city,
And they don't care to dance with me.
Now it ain't my fault that the fields are muddy,
And the red clay stains my feet.

And it's under my nails and it's under my collar,
And it shows on my Sunday clothes.
Though I do my best with the soap and the water,
But the damned old dirt won't go.

But when I pass through the pearly gate,
Will my gown be gold instead?
Or just a red clay robe with red clay wings,
And a red clay halo for my head?

Now it's mud in the spring and it's dust in the summer,
When it blows in a crimson tide.
Until trees and leaves and the cows are the colour,
Of the dirt on the mountainside.

But when I pass through the pearly gate,
Will my gown be gold instead?
Or just a red clay robe with red clay wings,
And a red clay halo for my head?

Now Jordan's banks they're red and muddy,
And the rolling water is wide.
But I got no boat, so I'll be good and muddy,
When I get to the other side.

And when I pass through the pearly gate,
Will my gown be gold instead?
Or just a red clay robe with red clay wings,
And a red clay halo for my head?

I'll take the red clay robe with the red clay wings,
And a red clay halo for my head.

3. Little baby learning the best way to suck her thumb. It's the dearest, cutest thing I've seen this week.

4. An unexpected pink-blooming salvia amongst the purple ones.

5. Calm words of love and affirmation.
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Thank Goodness For Small Accomplishments

I'm feeling vaguely disgruntled this evening, mentally stomping around in a snit or sighing in discouragement. I think it was because I couldn't find the fabric for the new curtains that I'd hoped to work on this weekend. Or there might be some other reasons piling up. In any case, I need to remind myself of some of my recent accomplishments.

1. Changed the porch light light bulb. This only took me a couple months.

2. Breastfed. Granted, I do this several times a day, but still. Whoo!

3. Moved the iris in the front garden. They'd been overwhelmed by the lantana for some many years that they don't have breathe to even bloom. I've given them a sunnier, more prominent spot where hopefully they will be happier. Lots of little babies too. Maybe next Spring I'll see blooms again.

4. Washed dishes. Oh yeah, this is always good. Especially when I made headway against the oily mess of dishes we made for the potluck. The countertop is clear again, if only for a few hours.

5. Logged and sorted more clothing. Another friend gave us a yet another tub of children's clothing. I love it when people pass on nice clothing for the little wookie, but it takes everything out of me to keep up. Sorting and logging them in is another step in keeping up so that I don't have bags and tubs and piles of mixed clothing lying around.

6. Wiped down and put away the pizelle press. This has been sitting on my kitchen table since early December. At first, I thought I might make a few more batches of pizelles for gifts, but then I turned into that last item I had to clean before putting away.

7. Cleaned up cat hairballs. Cleaned up baby spit. 'Nuff said.

8. Filed baby's recent checkup paperwork.

9. Sorted and stored toys that are not yet developmentally appropriate. The same friend who recently gave us clothes also passed on some very nice toys. Right now we are at the rattle stage, so the more complex blocks and pieces need to be kept out of the flow until the little wookie can actually appreciate them.

10. Took newspapers out to recycling. No more piles on the floor, couch, coffee table.

11. Clipped coupons. I had a back log of several weeks worth. I haven't bothered much with coupons recently, but have discovered that we actually buy some products that will benefit now.

12. Paid bills. AND remembered to put on an extra stamp. Darn postage increase.

13. Did two loads of laundry. Wash, dry, fold, put away. That includes an extra rinse cycle due to the quirkiness of our basement plumbing.

14. Deleted a bunch of old emails. It's a never-ending stream, and I have a tendency to want to save everything, so I have to keep at it or I end up with 2000+ read emails sitting in my inbox. After I post this, I'm going to delete a few more that showed up this evening.

15. Bought vegetable seedings and then *planted* them before they got dried up. Tomatoes, basil and marigolds - whoo-hoo! I also water the mint and some sweet peppers seedlings that I'd started from seed. I am psyched to have plantings in the ground. It's much harder to get anything done with the kidlet, so this is a big deal for me.

16. Threw out some old plastic garden pots. Things broken, beat up or no longer needed. And no, don't need to save them for someday. It's much the same as with the emails; I keep throwing things away periodically.

17. Steam-sterilized bottles in microwave. I love my microwave sterilizing bags.

18. Got a little extra sleep. Seize the Zees!

19. Cleaned the lens on my digital camera. Got rid of some of the fog that has built up on the lens.

20. Cut up melon. This helps makes sure it gets eaten!

21. Scrubbed down the bath tub. I love the feeling and look of a freshly cleaned tub! All shiny and sparkling.

22. Picked up trash in the yard and threw it out. Various items of trash manage to fall into our yard on a regular basis from at least three directions. Like the email, I have to keep picking it up and throwing it out.

23. Returned library books and got new ones.

24. Went grocery shopping. I often go late at night when there are few people around, but this week I went in daylight. All those people to dodge! But I snagged a few sales, got everything I needed, and still kept the bill down (under $80). I went through the line with my favorite, long-time checker and he thanked me for bagging my own groceries. Okay, now I can survive the rest of the week if need be.

23. Wrote another post. Yea! And now to bed.
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Grace in Small Things 22:365

1. A soft profusion of peony petals.

2. A steady rain soaking the garden overnight.

3. A chat program that allows me to hold real-time conversations - in no less than a single day or hour - with friends down the block, across the city, across the state, on the other end of the coast and on the other side of the world.

4. Big white boards for writing out lists, plans, diagrams, and ideas.

5. Bare feet sliding between cool cotton sheets.
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Opening the Channels

Yesterday, I danced with great energy as I haven't been able to do for months and months. I snagged some of my favorite partners, twirled and stamped and poured myself into the music and the pattern. So deeply fun and soul-satisfying, not holding back any reserves but enjoying the moment wholly, yes, the Joy! of that movement, every moment.

And today, I put on a little music and danced around some more for my own entertainment. I could have just sat (it's so easy to just sit), but I needed to move. To get up and boogie, so to speak.

Then today, I not only bought some new seedlings (varieties of tomato, basil, marigold), but I planted all of those seedlings in the garden this early evening while dodging mosquitoes and working up a sweat. All new seedlings in the ground and accounted for plus a volunteer tomato plant moved. Ha!

And if that weren't enough, we went for a walk around the longer loop of our neighborhood this evening. We ran into friends for part of our loop, friends with a distractible dog, so we talked and and talked and veered back and forth across the street as we met one scent or that other puppy, and generally charged up and down the hills at a good pace.

So then I was really tired and sweaty, but still in a good mood, still raring to go, still energized.

As with writing or painting, creating: you do a little, and it feeds the energy to do even more. If I am feeling tired or unmotivated, the answer apparently is NOT to rest so much. It may be that I have been feeling sluggish from disuse. FlyLady says This month we are "Moving in May." And I say, Yes, yes. Yes, we are!

I am moving to the beat, pushing ahead, doing more, flexing those energies, and feeling the old channels open up and become flushed with new work. This body may run heavy from the work of bearing a child, but the muscles are eager to get back to other work.

Dance! Walk! Talk! Write! Share! Craft! Move! This body, this person loves letting the energy flow along the pathways anew.
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Grace in Small Things 21:365

1. Volunteer tomato plant!

2. Containers of basil seedings that can be divided into more than one plant.

3. Marigolds with a maroon ruff.

4. Meeting friends in the neighborhood and spontaneously joining for a portion of our respective walks.

5. The scent of honeysuckle heavy in the night air.
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Grace in Small Things 20:365

1. Big paperclips that keep things neatly together.

2. Knobbed whelk shells from the beach, bleached and graceful.

3. Musicians who play live for dances, putting themselves into the tune to create that moment in time.

4. People who keep wanting to pass on baby clothes to us.

5. The ache in my breasts that tells me it's time to feed the little wookie again and reminding how we are inextricably bound together.
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8 Things: Self Care Essentials

It's Thursday and time for another 8 Things from Magpie Girl.

This week it's Self Care Essentials.

It’s time to think about what you need to stay healthy and sane on a day-to-day basis.

Here's my list:

1. Hydration. Water, juice or herbal tea. Water is my favorite.

2. Moving and using my body. Stretch! Yoga. Taking a walk or working in the yard.

3. Sleeeeep.

4. Grooming. Bath! Combing my hair, brushing and flossing my teeth, neatening cuticles and nails. At the end of day, massaging my feet.

5. Checking in with the natural world. Seeing the sky, noticing the weather and the way the light and air shifts with the seasons and time of day.

6. Reminders. My calendar. Lists to remind me of goals and projects and even more importantly, sub tasks of projects. Things to focus me and then to cross off when completed. I give myself a number of boxes for 15 minutes of work, and check them off when I've spend some amount of time on a task.

7. "Down time" inside my own head. Write a little, read a little, think a little.

8. "Up time" out of my head. Snuggles and conversation with my sweetie.

Oh, here's a bonus item: Neatening something in the house or space. Wash dishes, swipe the counter, clear the desk, sweep the floor. I'm so much saner with a little sweeping.
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